Keith Turner has come full circle.
More than 40 years after the Cleveland native entered Ely for the first time, and as one of just two African- Americans on the Vermilion campus, Turner is back in town to take on a leading administrative role.
Earlier this summer, Turner was named campus director at the Vermilion campus of Minnesota North College and he’ll lead dayto- day operations there as a new school year begins later this month.
A former standout athlete at Vermilion, Turner spent about a decade-and-a-half here as a coach and served on Ely’s school board before moving on to continue his career.
After stints as a college football coach in Wisconsin, Cloquet and Duluth, Turner served as athletic director at Hibbing High School and more recently took on an administrative position as dean of student success for Minnesota North, which has six campuses across the region including in Ely.
But the chance to return to Ely, where Turner began his Minnesota journey, proved to be too much to pass up.
“I got hired under Minnesota North as a dean and then this opened up,” Turner said Monday, not long after addressing the school’s football team. “I’ve always liked Ely and now I had the opportunity to come back and give back, not only to the students here, but also to work with some of the best people I have known as far as faculty and staff.”
Turner grew up in Ohio and first played collegiate football at Grambling, under legendary coach Eddie Robinson.
He was looking to return north when, thanks to a connection between his high school coach and late Vermilion coach Rudy Semeja, Turner first heard about Ely and the college here.
“It was January of 1984,” said Turner. “The biggest thing was Coach Semeja, and I had never heard of Ely, Minnesota. I thought I would give it a try and the rest was history.”
Turner was both a standout running back for the Ironmen and, in some ways, a fish in new water.
“I was one of two African Americans on campus, me and Kenny Smith who was from Milwaukee and played basketball,” said Turner. “And the next year there was Art Frazier from Minneapolis and one of my high school teammates, Mike Grant.
“One thing that I really liked and it goes back to (late Vermilion teacher) Nadine Marsnik. She was really caring and pulled me aside and made sure I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. It wasn’t only the coaches but the faculty.”
Turner went on to play football at Wisconsin-Superior, but Ely called again in 1990 when he took a job on the football coaching staff at Vermilion.
For the next decade-anda- half, Turner set roots in Ely along with his wife Genie.
By 1998, Turner was promoted to head football coach at Vermilion and a few years later he won a seat, as a write-in candidate, on the Ely School Board.
“I had a good experience here,” said Turner. “There were a few hiccups here and there but for the most part people were genuine. Our three kids were born here and they still love Ely too.”
In 2005, Turner left Ely for a spot on the football coaching staff at Wisconsin- Stevens Point.
That led to other positions, including coaching and administrative roles at Fond du Lac Community College in Cloquet, a year-and-a-half coaching wide receivers at the University of Minnesota- Duluth, and the AD job at Hibbing.
Yet Vermilion blue and gold still has a pull on Turner, 62, and late in a long career he will work full-time in Ely, while commuting from his home near Hibbing.
He and his wife, Genie, an elementary school teacher at Nett Lake are the parents of three adult-aged children, including two who live on the Iron Range.
“Our youngest, Eve, just graduated law school and she’s going to practice in Hibbing and is going to work for the St. Louis County public defender’s office,” said Turner. “She had the opportunity to go other places but wanted to come back here. Our daughter Claudia is a respiratory therapist up here, and our son Jaxson is in Maple Grove.”
Turner, meanwhile, is back where he began his adult journey and hopes to make his mark at Vermilion by restoring a bit of tradition.
“Like I just said to our football players, I like having that standard and I hope we can get back to what I felt like we had here back in the 1990s,” said Turner. “We were always going to do things the right way, but we would punch you in the mouth to get a victory. It was across the board. You knew you had to compete against Vermilion.
“And the other goal is getting to watch these young people graduate. I get to work with some of the smartest people in the world, future doctors, future lawyers, forestry people. People who are bright in so many areas.”
